Best RPGs of 2019

It’s award season here at Twinfinite, and that means it’s time to look back at 2019 and the games that filled it, before we move on to the next one. Recent years have seen something of a renaissance for RPGs, and 2019 has been a particular highlight. Now it’s time to decide the best RPGs of 2019.

Voted on by our editors, these are the experiences that stood out from the pack, whether JRPG or western-RPG. Complex systems, engrossing worlds, fascinating characters; these games exemplify the RPG genre.

Best RPGs of 2019

Honorable Mention: Disco Elysium

Review Editor Zhiqing Wan: Developed by ZA/UM, Disco Elysium is certainly one of the sleeper hit RPGs of 2019. The CRPG genre has seen a resurgence in recent years with the rise in popularity of titles like Divinity: Original Sin and Pillars of Eternity, and you can add Disco Elysium to that list as well.

Like any good RPG worth its salt, Disco Elysium is set in the fictional world of Revachol, which is one of the most detailed and rich environments we’ve ever explored.

Within the filthy, rundown district of Martinaise, you’ll talk to a variety of rich, unique NPCs all with their own motivations and secrets to hide. And as a detective who needs as much information as possible to solve a murder case, your job is to find out what makes these people tick, then make them talk.

Speaking of your character, the detective you play as also happens to be a complete mess of a human being.

You can shape his personality however you like, from a hyper logical person, to just a total wreck who hears voices in his head and has imaginary conversations with inanimate objects.

And just like any good RPG worth its salt, Disco Elysium is very smartly written, with sharp and brutal dialogue that will keep you hooked from start to finish. It might not be the prettiest RPG around, but it’s certainly one of the most immersive ones of the year.

Best RPGs of 2019

Honorable Mention: The Outer Worlds

Guides Editor Chris Jecks: The Outer Worlds is like RPG comfort food. The more you play of it, the harder it gets to stop. Set in the Halcyon Galaxy where a Phineas Welles releases you from an eternal sleep on a spaceship slowly trawling through space, your task is to uncover the conspiracy to end the Halcyon colony once and for all.

To do so you’ll explore various alien planets, help NPCs track down items, hack into terminals, lockpick doors and safes, use Speech skills to pass checks, slow down time in combat with Tactical Time Dilation, and generally be a space-hoppin’ bad-ass.

It does have its own, unique features with Flaws being one of them. If you repeatedly take damage from a certain enemy type or from an environmental hazard, or if you constantly get caught when trying to steal or lockpicking a door you shouldn’t be, you’ll be given the chance to take on a Flaw.

This may increase the damage you take from a particular enemy, or just make you even more jittery when picking locks. In return, you get another Perk Point to invest in your character. It’s an interesting trade-off element that frequently tempted us to up the ante.

In almost every facet of Outer Worlds, its inspiration stares back at you. It’s all very Fallout, but with a corporate-dominated world that makes for an interesting backdrop to all your shooting and colony-saving antics.

Do you side with the corporations in their predicaments with employees, who will help you in return? Or do you stick up for the little guy, give the finger to the corporation, and figure out an alternative with your friends?

On many occasions, I faced severe decision paralysis. But then I realized the game’s meant to be played multiple times for you to take all the various outcomes and endings in.

Outer Worlds truly is a fantastic RPG. It may not last you hundreds of hours, but its replayability, immersive and interesting world, and varied environments make for one of the best games to binge. Seriously, Outer Worlds is the western RPG to beat in 2019.

Best RPGs of 2019

Honorable Mention: Kingdom Hearts 3

Senior Editor Hayes Madsen: Fans have been waiting a long, long time for Kingdom Hearts 3. Since 2005 we’ve had spinoffs and side stories that all lead up to a climactic finale, and for the most part, Kingdom Hearts 3 delivers on that.

Kingdom Hearts 3 once again follows the hijinks of Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they quest to get Sora’s powers back and save the Birth By Sleep trio. The game is stuffed with more Disney charm than ever before, as each world feels uniquely original, and more fleshed out than in past games.

Kingdom Hearts 3 also makes a lot of improvements in terms of combat and overall gameplay. Sora moves more fluidly than ever before, as you can run up walls, spin off of poles, and more.

Sora also has access to a powerful new ability called Keyblade Forms, letting him transform his Keyblade into brand new weapons in the heat of battle.

Battles feel bigger and grander than ever before, with loads of enemies on-screen and a new party limit of five characters.

Everything culminates in one of the best final acts of any video game in recent memory, bringing together so many beloved characters and plotlines into one finale.

With the massive ReMind DLC on the way, Kingdom Hearts 3 looks like its only going to get bigger and better from here.

Best RPGs of 2019

Second Runner-Up: Pokemon Sword and Shield

Features Editor Greysun Morales: Pokemon Sword and Shield are the first mainline Pokemon RPGs to make their way to the Nintendo Switch and with this release, some fans were expecting Game Freak to blow it out of the water and make this the “Breath of the Wild” of Pokemon. We didn’t get that and I honestly think that it was for the better.

Pokemon Sword and Shield reiterate on the tried and true formula of battling, catching, training, and gym leaders while adding in some much-needed quality of life changes to make this the best Pokemon game yet in terms of accessibility and just pure fun.

There are changes here that makes competitive battling easier to get into, the addition of dynamaxing makes gym battles more hype than they’ve ever been, and the world of the Galar region looks absolutely gorgeous with each town and city oozing with charm and spectacle.

I was cautious going into Sword and Shield based on my feelings on previous generations of Pokemon but man, these games are excellent and I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun raising a team of new Pokemon since the days of Gold and Silver.

The cast of characters is great, the gym leaders have tons of personality, and there’s tons of stuff to do once you beat the game that will surely give players lots of extra hours of playtime.

Best RPGs of 2019

First Runner-Up: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3

Senior Editor Hayes Madsen: Few games have the ambition and scope that the Trails of Cold Steel series does, and even fewer manage to deliver on that like Trails of Cold Steel 3.

Taking place a year after the events of Trails of Cold Steel 2, Rean Schwarzer has now become an Instructor at the Thors Branch Campus, introducing a brand Class VII.

Trails of Cold Steel 3 brings together plotlines the series has been weaving for years, looping in characters from not only Trails of Cold Steel, but Trails in the Sky and the Crossbell games.

Each chapter takes you to a new location in Erebonia, and each town in the game feels wonderfully unique and fully-realized. By the same token, the new Class VII members are all well-rounded and fascinating characters, but you’ll still meet up with the old Class VII as well.

Combat feels much snappier this tie around, with an overhauled UI that maps commands to the D-Pad and face buttons. A new Battle Orders system lets you use Brave Points to apply status boosts to your whole party, but you’ll also use Brave Points for follow-up attacks.

Easier to navigate menus, easier to find side quests, and a streamlined bonding system are just a few of the improvements that the third entry makes.

Trails of Cold Steel 3 is still a slow-burn, but the story goes some surprising places as more of the threads come together and the stakes get higher than ever. It’s one of the most ambitious JRPGs out there, but mostly manages to live up to those lofty ambitions.

Best RPGs of 2019

Winner: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Features Editor Greysun Morales: Fire Emblem: Three Houses is not just a simple RPG. You can date students from the other houses, you can have tea with a professor, you can go fishing, you can compete in fighting tournaments, you can teach kids how to fly on dragons, you can have meals with the hottest people in the monastery… shall I go on? 

The thing about Three Houses is that it excels in not only giving players a deep tactical turn-based RPG, but it makes you genuinely care about your team and even other players who you don’t even interact with on the battlefield.

And if you’re playing on classic mode, every move you make in battle truly matters because any of your students can die in an instant and they’ll never come back, unless you’re a cheater who restarts the game.

The build-up to every big story battle at the end of every month is extremely nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time. The game does a great job at hyping you up for battles and they don’t feel like simple skirmishes, no.

These battles are some of the most intense moments in the dense campaign of Fire Emblem: Three Houses and if you’re not prepared with the proper weapons, items, and skills, you might as well stay in your dorm because the challenge level is pretty high, especially later on in the game.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the best RPG to come out this year and that’s because it does the role-playing sections very well as well as everything else under the sun. It’s an insanely deep Switch title that surprised me with its amount of content and even after playing for dozens of hours, I only want more and more of it.